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Toyota SUV Pick: NXT’s Speakers

Las Vegas — Toyota will become the first vehicle to come equipped with a roof-liner sound system developed by flat-panel loudspeaker technology company NXT, the company announced here at International CES.

NXT also offered demos of a new sound technology called Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR), which essentially allows flat panels to be used in both conventional speaker cabinet designs, as well as in unique, slim-line enclosures.

Toyota’s new FJ Cruiser SUV will become the first mass-production vehicle to use NXT’s SurfaceSound technology in its roof liner, which complements other conventional speakers in the car. The NXT speaker’s omni-directional speaker technology helps fill the car’s interior with sound. Graham Ryan, NXT’s chief commercial officer, tells the TWICE CES Daily that the car will be available in the United States in March.

The company’s BMR technology allows panels, which can be either rectangular or circular, to be mounted in an enclosure like a conventional drive unit, which makes manufacturing easier, and allows for unique designs to be created. The company, which said the BMR’s low-frequency response is equivalent to drive units, was showing two prototypes: a conventional-looking cube-shape satellite/subwoofer speaker system, and an ultra-thin pair of speakers shaped like a book, designed to be unobtrusively placed on a bookshelf.